Brooke Collison

I came to Kenya as a volunteer faculty member here at Kenya Methodist University. I told the chair that I’d do anything they wanted me to do, that I just wanted to be helpful in any way I could. I agreed to “fit in” as best I could. I think I have, but there have been some surprises:

I had an interesting dialogue with a student yesterday—a single mother who is a practicing nurse in a clinic that sees all kinds of patients. She is taking more courses this term than I think she should, but she just sounds determined and committed enough to make it all work. She wants to become a counselor and is taking a course in Human Growth and Development that I am teaching. We had the opportunity to have a long one-on-one discussing course concepts, assignments for the trimester, her goals, and her experiences.

Yesterday, I attended two faculty meetings at KeMU—a college faculty meeting and a counseling department meeting. Surprise! The topics sounded exactly the same as the ones I’ve been hearing for 30+ years: requirements for continuing contracts, faculty load, effect of increased tuition on decline in student enrollment, cost of credit hour production, and need to have a good dialogue with university administration on some issues. In the department meeting, discussion focused on grade distributions across the several campus programs of KeMU (in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Maua, and Nyeri).

I suppose that most teachers wonder about the degree to which the things they are teaching have significance or relevance for the students in class. In a previous blog statement, I expressed some concern about whether language differences were limiting my effectiveness. Then Friday came along.

Kenya Methodist University (KeMU) where my wife and I have taken residence this week has enough of the old British tradition attached to it that there are tea breaks at 10:15 and again at 4:00. I’d personally like to find a cup of black coffee at those times, but having a cup of the local chai—hot milk, some tea, and lots of sugar—can be kind of nice.